Hi

Wondering if the good folks at Golden Ear or one of the old heads on the forum can help please?

As can be seen by my recent posts I'm very pleased with my recent purchase of the Triton 1's. Their acquisition was phase 2 of a complete system refresh. Phase 1 was the Lampizator DAC, and phase 3 is a new power amp.

I have some questions regarding the DSP algorithms in the plate amp as part of this next phase.

• Does the algorithm 'alter' the bass output compared to the input via 'extra' processing, or does it simply digitise the incoming signal to 56bit accuracy and amplify it?

Or to put it another way, is it worth spending money on an amplifier that has better bass (and mid / treble) performance than my current 18 year old SS power amp, or should I focus on something with greater mid / high performance (probably tubes) because the Triton DSP 'improves' the bass?

Thanks for the input.

Cheers

Hi Chcmuzza,
Great question and I hope someone can give you a better technical answer. I cannot do the technical thing, but will hope to give you a bit of experiential response.
In a nutshell, simple answer, I believe GEt has made the DSP to be as transparent as possible. In other words (and this is my experience) what goes in comes out exactly the same only louder. That is the point after all, isn't it?
My experience is that the better bass that goes into the speaker, the better bass comes out. Flabby bass from a colored tube amp will come out louder, but flabby sounding. But a tube amp that puts out deep, well controlled bass, will get more of the same played out.
Mids/treble also need to be as good as they can be, garbage in/garbage out. PLEASE NOTE: that is just an expression, I can see from your system already that YOU will NOT be playing any garbage in!!!!!
You will probably have one of the best sounding systems, maybe THE BEST, of any of us. I would just go with the best overall amp that plays equally well for all frequencies.
I am using the hybrid tube/SS amps from Vincent, the SP-T800 mono amps. Guess I can't get away from tubes, but I love the bass control that transistors give.
Whatever amp works best for your ears, in your room will probably sound GREAT, I do not think that the DSP in your speakers will throw anything off, it will sound fantastic!!!!
Hope this helps,
God Bless,
Wayne

chcmuzza,

I don't think your going to get a lot of specifics on this information. Besides what is released in the marketing literature and provided to professional reviewers, GET is pretty tight lipped about the design of their products. Members on the forum have speculated a lot about just how the amplifier works.

What I have found is that bass is much more powerful but a bit less musical when using the LFE input. I prefer the added power for home theater use and the added "control" for music so I use both methods of sending bass to the T1s. I have found that additional amplifier power offer not just better bass, but better sound all around. While there is a built in amp for frequencies below 100 Hz, it appears reproducing these frequencies still taxes associated equipment.

Stereophile put out a great review of the T1s and included some measurements that may reveal some information that supports my listening impressions. The link to these measurements is provided below. Overall, they noted that the T1s would require a good 4-ohm amplifier to drive the towers to acceptably high levels.

www.stereophile.com/content/goldenear-te...#TSQP1YcOUVJkiQH8.97

I hope this sheds some light on what you were looking for but I admit this is little more than a hypothesis. The T1s are easy to drive to loud volumes but quality amplification is a real benefit. I recently compared a proper amplified signal to high octane fuel for a formula one race car. The T1 is great either way but to perform at it's highest potential, it needs high octane. Let us know what you discover and your impressions.

Cheers,

T Cobe

Thanks for the input team. Your responses line up with my expectations however it would be nice for GE to confirm.

Simply digitising the signal below 100Hz and re-amplifying shouldn't be considered a massive secret, perhaps even a marketing benefit given the overall performance of the T1's, however a lack of any formal response might suggest something different.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers

Hi Wayne

Thanks for the kind words re my system. Like you I have a predilection for tubes - I'm considering a hybrid power amp also.

Cheers

Everybody,

I really appreciate the civil discussions we have on topics which contain a significant subjectivity component. Listening preferences, merits of different equipment, pros and cons of different connection approaches, etc. are all topics about which discussions could quickly degenerate into ugly discourse, resulting in no benefit to anyone.

So, I say "good show" to everyone involved.

Best to all,

Art